Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul announced on his Facebook page and Twitter account that he has taken the Senate floor to begin his filibuster of renewing the PATRIOT Act, specifically provisions in Section 215 that are set to expire at the end of the month. Check out the live footage of Paul's filibuster here.

What was expected to be a close race in California Senate District 7 was anything, but that. On Tuesday, Orinda Mayor Steve Glazer (D) sailed to victory over Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) -- who carried the Democratic Party's endorsement -- by over 9 percentage points, 54.6 percent to 45.4.

A new Reuters-Ipsos poll confirms what most Americans already knew: Congress is ineffective, and extreme partisanship is to blame.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian, David McCullough, is perhaps best known for his biographies of John Adams and Harry Truman. His most recent book, The Wright Brothers, is his third of a series on great accomplishments in technology (the other two portray the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and The Panama Canal).

Looking to the Founders: Immunize Your Kids, David Yee argues that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were pro-vaccine. It's an interesting bit of history and one that I do not challenge.

When people give money to a charity, they give it with the hope that their donation will go toward whatever cause the charity represents, whether it be cancer research, global health care and/or relief efforts, helping war-torn areas, etc. The hope is that the money will actually do some good and the charity is out to do something noble.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. According to CNN, 4 cancer charities operated by members of the same extended family took $187 million in donations and spent almost none of it on cancer patients or cancer research.

Campaigns are constantly looking at demographics. Gender, race, economics, and geography all play a role in election strategy. But as many GOP hopefuls look toward 2016, they should consider something else: the GOP death rate.

Saudi Arabia has been long suspected by the West of bankrolling Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons, and now it seems they are calling in the favor in the form of off-the-shelf nuclear weapons.

According to the Sunday Times, Saudi Arabia could take delivery as early as next month, but even with this new report, some experts remain doubtful until the transfer actually takes place.

According to the Sentencing Project, an estimated 5.85 million American citizens today are denied the right to vote because of state laws that prohibit voting by people with felony convictions.

The Maryland Legislature recently voted to join 13 states like Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, and Utah in restoring voting rights to citizens convicted of a felony upon release from prison. However, these convicts will still be denied suffrage rights while they are incarcerated.

Who will get the black vote, the Spanish-speaking vote, the youth vote? Should religious citizens vote according to religious leaders?